How to Bullet Journal in Your Planner

Bullet journaling is a fantastic tool for quilters and crafters; it allows us to be efficient with the time we spend planning, and maximize the time we spend making beautiful things. This means we become less stressed and more productive! And let’s face it, if you consider yourself a maker, that’s all you really want, right?

Bullet journaling and using a planner — both have a lot of devotees to their particular style, but did you know that you can actually use the Quilter’s Planner as a bullet journal? It’s true! Bullet journaling can be as simple or as complex as you like, but today we are going to look at a simplified bullet journal style for the planner. If you prefer to bullet journal with more details, there’s lots of room to do so!

Not sure if bullet journaling in your planner is right for you? Try it if:

You get overwhelmed when you see a jam-packed planner page, and feel like there’s too much to do

You want to increase the amount of time you spend quilting or crafting, and less time planning

You love a streamlined visual look to your planner

You want to try bullet journaling, but don’t know where to start

First thing: you need to figure out what you want to track in your bullet journal. In our example, I’m tracking a couple of healthy habits I want to work on – drinking eight glasses of water each day, and stretching twice a day. I also want to track to-do items, appointments, events, and whether or not I got them done! Here is a close up of the key (and my less-than-amazing handwriting!):

Next, you fill in the details of your upcoming week. Add in what you can, and as other appointments and to-do items come up, add them in, keeping the key consistent:

Tips:

Keep your Bullet Key simple. It will be tempting to develop a symbol for everything, but the more symbols you have, the harder it will be to keep up. No one wants to spend their time referring to the key symbols every single time they are looking at a task.

Identify your priorities. While it would be amazing to get everything that you want all done in a single day, we all have busy lives and it doesn’t always happen. Using your planner and the timeslots helps keep you on track of what you can accomplish in a given timeframe.

Get it all down. Even if you can’t get everything you want done in a given day, doesn’t mean you want to lose sight of it. Use the personal, work, and notes sections to add in ideas and notes or schedule time in your planner (even if it’s a week from now) to go over the ideas that are percolating. Taking time to get your ideas down on paper will help you feel more organized, even if you can’t find more hours in the day.

If you need it to be simple, stick with just one color. If you need to track a lot of different categories, try using different colors of pens and markers. Stickers can also help, too!

What do you think? Are you ready to try bullet journaling in your planner? Save